


Sand and Stone

by Tiara_of_Sapphires



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Memory Loss, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Scavenger Rey (Star Wars), Smuggler Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:42:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiara_of_Sapphires/pseuds/Tiara_of_Sapphires
Summary: They were scavenger and smuggler, but so much more than that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trying a new story out ^w^  
> (This is un-beta-ed btw whoops)  
> One time disclaimer: I don’t own Star Wars.  
> Enjoy!

In the halfway place between sleep and awake, the screech of metal on metal, energy on energy, pierced the quiet.

It was like a fireball had entered the atmosphere, searing across the sky to explode with a jarring noise. It burned across Rey’s mind, sending her curling into a ball, heart racing in her chest.

It was a familiar feeling; it was something she felt just before a good scavenge. That pull in her chest and the burn in her fingertips that told her that she was going to eat well that night, that just behind a loose panel was a valuable piece worth at least a full portion.

She also got that feeling when rival scavengers wandered too close. The anticipation for a fight, for survival, running through her veins.

Hot-cold, anticipation and fear, an identification by something that felt outside of herself. To feel that, in the safety—or whatever safety could be found in the middle of Jakku—of her AT-AT, was disconcerting. Not quite the level where she was anticipating an attack, though the threat of it was still there. She knew what that really felt like as well.

It had happened once before, when she was young and had just claimed the AT-AT as her own. A rival scavenger had waited until nightfall to attack her little hovel.

She almost died that night, but an old man had come to save her. He had been cloaked with a blue light and radiated power; his presence filled her with strength. People spoke of spirits, few had seen them. To see them was a curse or a blessing.

She drove the rival scavenger away with her staff and knife and collapsed on her knees into the sand in exhaustion when it was all over. The spirit-man stood beside her, belonging to the sand and utterly separated from it.

“It’s okay, Rey,” he had said. His voice had a strange echo to it, he was close and far away at the same time. “I’m right here.”

He reappeared every so often, not saying much, usually just sitting next to her while she ate her meals at the end of the day. She didn’t know his name, just that he was a wise old man. Or, that was the form he took. Whether he had lived a corporeal life or was born out of the sand, she didn’t know and knew better than to ask.

Since he didn't appear again to defend her, she had to assume that there was no deadly danger coming for her that night. It was better to think that instead of worrying her spirit friend had abandoned her.

Still, Rey tucked her knife closer to her body and closed her eyes.

The rushing of sand around her hovel sounded like the flow of an ocean, like a dream.

* * *

The feeling of anticipation did not last long the next day, replaced by dread and annoyance.

Rey trudged through the tarp city and resisted the urge to kick one of the poles that held up shade from the sun.

Not only was she unable to find anything of significant value on the day’s salvage—meaning little to no food—but, also a stinging pain had bloomed across her cheek.

It wasn’t even anyone’s fault. She was just a kriffing _idiot_ who got too close to a sharp edge and cut her face.

Injuries were never taken lightly, as they sapped energy that nobody could afford to lose. They were a sign of weakness, of vulnerability. And the desert ate those who were weak.

Not for the first time that day, she cursed under her breath as she reached up to check the damage.

Her fingers told her the cut wasn’t thin, but blood had dried. It stung every time she moved her face.

She sat down at the cleaning station, sinking a little into the bench in exhaustion.

Pick in hand, she dug out flecks of sand that had wedged themselves into the piece from the Star Destroyer. It was the most valuable thing she had found that day and she needed to squeeze every bit of value out of it. Making it clean and shiny-looking would only increase what Plutt would give her for it.

A chill crawled up the back of her neck and the pick fell from her limp fingers. The urge to look, to find the source of the feeling, raced through her.

She whipped around from where she sat, expecting a looming figure. But there was no one there. No, what had caught her attention was barely a stone’s throw away. A man trudged among the tents and his boots kicked up sand with each heavy footfall.

He followed an older man who was dressed similarly, if not with a bit more color than was likely necessary. The cape almost definitely _wasn’t_ necessary, as it was another layer and provided no more shielding from the sun than the rest of his clothes provided, but he carried himself in such a way that the cape was appropriate.

She didn’t make any move to get his attention, but suddenly he looked up from where his eyes were trained to his companion’s back to stare into her eyes. The movement wasn’t halting but as if she had called out to him and he found her immediately, like one pole of a magnet would find its opposite.

Heart leaping into her throat, Rey turned back towards the piece she had been working on. Stars, he looked at her and it felt…it felt like the night before, that sensation was unmistakable.

Rey wiped the back of her mouth with her hand and then picked up a rag to clean the metal. It distracted her for a moment, but still, she felt…the strange urge to look at the man again.

So, she did.

He was still looking at her. Glancing, really, but it was like he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Every time he looked to his companion and the trader they were likely dealing with, his body was still tilted in her direction, ready to look at her again.

Rey watched him, now accepting that her attention was going to be consumed by this man until something of greater importance caught her eye.

His build and something distinct in his posture told her that he wasn’t some cushy outsider who would be consumed within hours of entering the desert. His hand hovered close to the blaster on his hip. This wasn’t the first time he had been in an area like Jakku. He was ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

The man he was with, his partner, mentor, whatever, conversed easily with the Trandoshan dealer. Or, at least he was trying. Rey couldn’t catch much of the conversation and Trandoshans were hard to understand even when standing right in front of one.

She watched as his good-natured smile faltered, clearly whatever arrangement the two had hit a snag, but brightened again, almost artificially.

“Well, we’ll just stick around until your shipment comes in,” he said.

He turned around to face the younger man, who had looked away from Rey to focus on the older man. The sunny countenance dropped a little, showing his irritation.

“Come on.”

The two retraced their path, towards the makeshift shipyard.

Rey couldn’t help but watch them leave, eyes tracing their path to what she assumed was their ship until they disappeared up the loading platform.

Then her attention finally drew back to her supplies.

Later, Plutt only gave her a quarter of a portion for what she had collected that day. She stamped away the displeasure in getting so little. It was the law of the desert: find little, get little. Tucking that away into the pouch hanging off of her belt, Rey trudged away from Niima Outpost toward her speeder.

She made a detour, on her way, letting herself wander a bit through the shipyard. She stopped in front of the strange visitors’ ship.

It wasn’t any model she recognized, big enough that it would require two people to engage in any fancy maneuvers. It was also distinct enough that she would be able to spot it easily. A small pit of disappointment grew in her chest as she realized she likely wasn't going to see that man again.

Well, maybe tomorrow, and the day after that, until they get their ‘shipment’, whatever that meant. The Trandoshan they were dealing with was always secretive of his goods. And then, well, it was likely they would leave and not come back, unless they had business on Jakku at a later time.

She couldn’t help but envy the idea a little: the ability to leave and return as one pleased.

But her family was coming, soon. Eventually.

Rey turned back to her speeder, wiping a hand across her face. Rey’s eyes felt overly hot as she travelled back to her hovel, despite the goggles protecting her eyes and the fact that it was no hotter on Jakku than usual.

The wilted flowers that sat on a shelf were too red, feverishly red.

She staunchly ignored it, chalking it up to exhaustion, and went through her normal evening routine. Her hands were shaking finely, just enough that it was noticeable. The stream of water from her canteen to her bowl quivered in the air, a couple drops falling onto her hand. She licked off the errant water.

Rey stared into her bowl, the quarter of a portion she managed to scrape together stared back at her.

There was no reason why she wouldn’t sit outside to enjoy her meal, but there was no energy there.

She reached with probing fingers over the cut on her face.

Did the skin feel hotter than usual?

Her appetite disappeared, but she forced the rest of her food down her throat. No amount of feeling poorly would allow her to let any bit of her meal to go to waste.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep or when she woke up. But when she woke up, nothing felt real.

Rey lurched upright.

Her _head_.

Everything was too hot. Her head had been filled with sand, sand doused in fuel and set ablaze. She couldn’t see anything clearly, her familiar surroundings smeared with static and darkness. The desert was going to consume her.

Shaking, trembling, she grabbed for her staff and fumbled outside her AT-AT.

Somebody called her name. Her spirit friend?

It was the blessing of the spirits. Those who stayed and became fixtures among Jakku’s sands were said to become friends with the spirits. Very few people believed in such things. Often it was said to be a ploy to keep the scavengers from leaving their work.

Rey wouldn’t have believed it either, if not for seeing one with her own eyes.

But, something was wrong. She couldn’t see him but she could hear him. And he sounded very far away, like she was in the belly of a Star Destroyer and he was standing at the opening, calling for her.

She needed to go to the outpost. She needed...she needed to get to her speeder.

The staff dug into the sand, the only real thing keeping her upright.

Her fingers fumbled with the controls. Purely by muscle memory, she drove towards the outpost. If she crashed and killed herself halfway there, it wouldn’t have registered in her mind.

There were faint lights dancing in her vision. Stars? Torches and lamps?

Her speeder jolted to a halt and Rey almost slid off of it into a heap onto the ground. Almost. Her staff kept her upright and dug into the sand as she leaned her weight on it.

Her feet carried her towards a goal that only her fevered mind could comprehend and that was all she remembered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the people who commented and kudos! I really appreciate it!  
> Enjoy!

She stopped in front of a ship. She recognized the ship from somewhere, but didn’t know where exactly.

The loading ramp opened in a series of soft creaks and light spilled from the cargo hold, bright enough to blind her from anything else that was hiding in the ship.

 “Rey?”

That voice she definitely recognized. She didn’t need to turn around to see who it belonged to, and she couldn’t turn around. She was stuck facing forward, only to hope she was correct.

A bluish hand—her spirit friend’s—rested on her shoulder and she felt strangely at ease. Anyone who touched her, from what she could remember, was either in intimidation or condescension. But this was the touch of a friend.

She should really ask for his name. Someday, she would. It probably wouldn’t change anything, but it would be a nice gesture.

“These are your first steps.”

He nudged her and she tipped forward, like she was standing at the edge of a cliff. Darkness swamped her vision, and, immediately, consciousness filtered back in.

Her dream-self had a painless existence. Her real self wasn’t so lucky. Pain tap-tap-tapped on the inside of her skull, just barely there.

At least, she was in a marginally better state than she was when she had collapsed. The heat was gone from inside her, but everything felt slower and emptier. The air felt wrong.

She sucked in a breath. The air felt too clean, too devoid of dust and sand. Jakku was only ever blisteringly hot or bitter cold. This was definitely on the colder side, but she wasn’t wracked by shivers. This was different: the strangely familiar feeling of breathing recycled air.

She couldn't have been in a building. No, there were no buildings that she knew of that boasted the luxury of climate control. That had to have been a ship.

But, whose ship?

Rey let her eyes crack open just a bit. Durasteel and dim light stared back at her.

She opened her eyes fully and wedged an arm underneath her body, pushing herself just slightly upright from what she realized was a bed. No restraints, which meant less cause to panic. She was also covered in a blanket.

The left side of her face was numb. Her free hand found her face and felt a bacta patch mashed over where she knew was the cut she received hours—days?—earlier.

She jerked in shock when she realized she wasn’t alone in that room, almost falling onto her back.

In the opposite corner of the room, a figure watched her impassively, squatted on the ground. It took her a moment to recognize that she was looking at the young man from the outpost.

“Where am I?” Rey asked. Her voice shook only slightly and was a bit garbled from the wrapping on her face.

His mouth twitched in something akin to amusement. “You’re my guest.”

What was _that_ supposed to mean? She must have made a face like she wanted to stab a vibroblade into his jugular—and that thought did cross her mind—because the man rolled his eyes.

“You’re on my ship,” he sighed. “Lucky to be alive, I would say.”

It explained her surroundings. And the relative silence around them told her that neither the engine nor the hyperdrive were on at the moment. They were landed _somewhere_. Maybe still in the shipyard outside of Niima Outpost.

“How did you find me?” she wondered.

“You were sick, practically collapsed outside the ship. Good thing I was making a check around the perimeter or you would've probably died right there in the sand and _I'd_ be stuck with clean-up.”

“You picked me up?”

He reddened a little, standing up to lean against the wall. “Listen, I couldn't let you die out there.”

“I think I can handle myself,” Rey huffed.

“Doubtful. Your face could’ve rotted off.”

Despite the ribbing, something told Rey that he had actually been concerned. He had taken her in and saved her life. She owed him this much: “Thank you.”

“No problem. The medical droid did most of the work with the infection and stuff but...” He shrugged.

Rey took the time to look at him a little more closely.

His mouth was wide and his ears just slightly too big for his head. He had dark freckles dotting his skin. Clearly, he wasn’t meant to stay in the sun for too long, explaining why he had looked so unhappy to be on Jakku.

His accent was clearly from the Inner Rim, from Coruscant or similar systems. Very few people with that accent ever drifted into Jakku, but those that were tended to be memorable, since they usually had flashy ships and lots of money.

“What’s your name?” Rey asked.

“You ask a lot of questions,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “But, my name is Ben.”

Ben. His name was Ben. That knowledge brought a pang of something through her chest to mix with the suspicion. Recognition? Sorrow? It was the same sort of feeling when her spirit friend would mention anything regarding who he was. It was never any fully enlightening amount of information, but it was enough to tell her that her spirit had a hard life. “And yours?” he asked.

“Rey.”

He nodded. His mouth twitched a little. A smile? “Rey. Okay.”

Rey had the intention of asking where they were and when would she be able to leave to return to her work on Jakku before her stomach grumbled loudly, catching both of their attentions.

“Well, do you want something to eat?”

Rey stiffened. She knew this game. People didn’t just give away food, not on Jakku when food was scarce. Barter was the law of the desert, good for good, service for service, no debt ever allowed to sit unfulfilled.

Outsiders and more well-to-do scavengers would sometimes offer food in exchange for _services_ in return. She could tell the good ones from the bad ones, like how she could tell between salvage spots. She turned them all down, and the pushy ones, she would pull out her knife and point it at their genitals. That got them to leave her alone.

“What’s in it for you?” she asked harshly.

Ben blinked at her, shocked. “I’m just giving you something to eat.”

It was Rey’s turn to blink wordlessly at him. “But surely there’s something you want in return?”

Money, a limb, something. He looked at her like she had grown a second head.

Ben sighed. “How about you stop asking me dumb questions and I’ll give you the food? Deal?”

Rey hesitated for a moment. This didn’t feel right, but she had a feeling if she kept refusing Ben wouldn’t give her the food.  “Deal.”

Ben stepped out of the room and Rey took the time to look around. There were boxes here and there in neat stacks, some labelled in delicate script of Aurebesh and some with their labels completely scratched off. It made sense, since Ben and his partner—wherever he was—were likely traders or smugglers. She was betting more on the latter. Ben wasn’t setting off any alarms with her, though he was a bit of a jerk.

He returned with a ration pack and Rey could feel herself salivating. Compared to the normal portions she had on a day-to-day basis, a ration pack was a delicacy, rare and valuable. She took it from him, doing a poor job at hiding her eagerness. She stripped off the wrapper and shoved almost half of the bar into her mouth.

Ben eyed her with disgust. Rey shrugged, unaffected by the scrutiny and unwilling to school her features.

“I’m hungry,” she mumbled around a mouthful.

Ben sighed. “Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome.”

They sat in silence after she finished.

Rey froze as she heard the loading bay lower and raise again, and steps on the metal hallway.

“Ah! She’s awake!”

The other man from the market appeared, a grin plastered on his face. This man was older, probably old enough to be Ben's father, though there was no family resemblance that she could really see. They were both human and the similarities ended there. Grey dusted his curly black hair, but his smile belied his age.

“You gave us quite a scare. Even Ben was worried for you, and he’s _famously_ aloof.”

Ben reddened and mumbled something that Rey couldn’t catch.

“My name is Lando Calrissian,” the older man said, reaching out a hand for her to shake.

The name rang a bell. “The smuggler?” Rey gasped.

“The very same!” Lando grinned. “My reputation precedes me.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Of course, she knew about the smuggling thing, not the war-hero thing or the gas-mining thing.”

Lando waved him off. “I see you’ve met Ben, my nephew and associate.”

Rey mentally corrected herself. Okay, so they _were_ family. There was a similar way the two of them carried themselves that would hint to such a relationship, but perhaps more signs would follow.

Rey nodded in acknowledgement. “Yes. Thank you for taking me in. According to Ben, I would have died without your help.”

“It was a bit touch-and-go for a few hours, but once the antibiotics hit you were good. Can’t say there won’t be scarring.”

Her hands touched the edge of the bandage again. A scar was better than losing her life.

“It’s fine. Are we still on Jakku?”

Lando huffed, “Yes. That blasted dealer hasn’t gotten his shipment yet. I’m not leaving without it, so we’ve been stuck here.”

Rey must have sagged a little in relief because Ben looked at her in confusion.

“Why, got somewhere to be?” he asked.

There were many answers to that question. She needed to be around for when her parents returned. She also needed to be there to work for Plutt, who would probably notice a prolonged absence. She also needed to make sure nobody took her AT-AT from her, which was a gamble every time she took her speeder home from the outpost.

“Yes, I do. Jakku is my home.”

Ben’s lip curled in disdain. It seemed like an expression he was used to having on his face. “Some home.”

Rey couldn’t help but get defensive, letting the anger well up inside of her just a little. “I’m waiting for my _family_ , if it’s all the same to you.”

Bens face twisted at the words, like Rey had punched him in the gut. Lando winced.

That was the general reaction whenever she mentioned that to anyone. She didn’t tell many people about it, since nobody really cared in the first place. But the small few who did often winced in pity. Pitiful little girl, waiting for her family.

“Fair enough reason,” Lando said democratically.

Rey sat up a little more, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She was barefoot, she realized. Her shoes were on the floor next to the bed.

Who took off her shoes? Ben or Lando?

A wooziness swept over her but she closed her eyes and sucked in a breath between her teeth.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Lando cooed. “The medicine we gave you has some side-effects. But it kept you alive, that’s what’s important, eh?”

Rey nodded, swallowing the sudden nausea. Maybe she should have eaten that ration pack a little more slowly.

“At least, I'll get you some food for you,” Ben said.

He sounded dismissive, like he was glad to be rid of her. Rey supposed the feeling was mutual, but she didn’t have it in her to dislike Ben all that much.

He left the room and could be heard rummaging around.

“What's your name again?” Lando asked.

She leaned down to put her shoes back on. “Rey.”

She looked up to see Lando nodding with a cheerful smile. “That’s a nice name. Well, it’s a shame you have to go back there. Jakku ain't a place for anybody, in my opinion.”

Rey was inclined to agree. Stars knew how many times she seethed in anger and hatred for this place, the work and the lack of food.

She fumbled with the ties on her boots when a chill crawled up her spine. That chill told her that something was wrong. Maybe not in this ship, but something was definitely wrong, or going to be wrong very soon.

“Ah, I guess,” she said. Her voice shook a little, but Lando didn’t comment on it.

Ben returned with a brown sack, along with her staff and dagger. She didn’t remember bringing either of those with her, but supposed that even in a fevered state she would remember to bring her weapons. “Got some more ration packs in here,” Ben said. “Enough to last you a bit. I also packed a couple bacta patches and that antibiotic stuff, in case the wound flares up.”

The kindness of the action muted the bad feeling for a moment. Nobody had ever been that generous with her before. To heal her was one thing, something she would never be able to repay, but the supplies was something else. Supplies meant everything on Jakku.

Rey took it from him with a smile. If she were more selfless, if she hadn’t already known that the two men were likely well-to-do, she would have refused the supplies. But she knew better. The supplies could mean the difference between life and death.

“Thank you, Ben, Lando. For everything.”

She owed them a life-debt, though she didn’t dare bring it up. They were outsiders, generous and ignorant. They could demand repayment and she would be obligated to pay it. If they left and never returned, well, she wouldn’t have to worry about.

The bad feeling immediately returned as she stood up. It had nothing to do with the slight unsteadiness she felt or the weight of her new-found debt. This was outside of herself, like someone tread on her grave.

“I’ll walk you out,” Ben offered.

Rey could’ve told him that she could find her way out of the ship just fine by herself, but something small inside her told her to accept.

She nodded. “Lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *eyes emoji*  
> Hope you enjoyed this installment! If you did, please leave a comment or kudos! It really motivates me to write more and more often!  
> Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update! Sorry it took me so long but I hit a wall with editing!  
> Enjoy!

A call rang through the air as Rey and Ben started to step out into the Jakku sun. They tensed as six figures burst into the shipyard, advancing to one particular spot: Lando’s ship.

The Trandoshan dealer led the charge, armed with a large blaster, the rest of them similarly armed.

He pointed at Ben and Rey and growled something. Rey didn’t know the language, but she knew the word for 'kill' when she heard it.

“Ben, take cover!”

Rey dove behind a crate set next to the loading ramp as Ben ducked to the other side. Blasterfire rang out immediately, frying the metal that they had been standing on.

Ben had already yanked his blaster from his hip and started firing, sending the men into finding cover.

“Ben! Rey!” Lando yelled from inside the ship.

“We’ve been double-crossed!” Ben yelled before ducking out from behind the crate to fire a few more shots.

Rey covered her head at the sound of splintering wood as the blasts pinged close to her.

“I don’t have a blaster!” she shrieked.

Lando said something she couldn’t understand, but she assumed he was going to come back to help.

Shots pinged off of the box she was hiding behind. She glanced over at Ben who had taken cover again. Smoke drifted off the mouth of his blaster and his brow was tight.

“Give me some cover fire, kid!” Lando yelled from the ship.

Ben obeyed, sending a volley of bolts that sent the enemy scrambling.

Lando darted down the ramp and behind Ben’s shelter.

“Should’ve known better than to deal with this guy,” Lando said, barely audible over the blasterfire.

Lando looked to Rey and yelled “Catch!” He tossed her a small, silver blaster. She caught it and looked it over.

Ben yelled, “Please tell me you know how to use that!”

Even in a life-or-death situation, he had to be an asshole, didn’t he?

“Of course, I do!” she snapped.

She sat with her back to the hard steel box and took in a deep breath. Her hands weren’t shaking.

She peeked over the top of the crate, holding the blaster out to aim. She pulled the trigger and it clicked without firing. Rey hissed and ducked back behind her crate.

“Kriff, the safety,” she hissed to herself, cheeks flaring in embarrassment.

Neither man seemed to notice, to her great relief. She clicked off the safety, and ducked out behind the crate. She aimed and fired. The kickback threw her arm up and the shot sailed over the Trandoshan’s head.

She aimed again, using her free hand to steady her arm. This time, the bolt glanced off his shoulder. He growled and ducked back out of sight. She wished he was closer so she could beat him over the head with her staff, but, Trandoshans were physically very strong. It was best he was kept at a distance.

Blasterfire still came from his accomplices, clearly out to kill all three of them and take the ship.

Ben shot one of them in the head. Rey wounded one bad enough that he ducked behind the wing of a nearby starship and didn’t come back up.

“Come on! We need to take off or there’ll be more of them,” Lando shouted.

Lando bolted inside, narrowly missing the shots that impacted where his feet were moments before.

Knowing the remaining attackers would expect them to follow, Rey waited before heading for the loading ramp, and kept shooting.

The engines kicked on with a high-pitched whine, throwing sand into the air.

“What are you waiting for?” Ben asked over the din.

Stars, he was impatient. She supposed for good reason, since the longer they were out here, the more chances their attackers would be able to land a clean shot.

“Cover me. Then you go,” Rey said.

Ben looked at her and nodded. Rey shot once, twice, sending them scattering, before she ducked back into the ship. Ben was close behind, also firing. The ramp raised as the engines roared.

“Ben, get in here!” Lando ordered from what Rey assumed was the cockpit. Ben sprinted past her and she struggled to remain upright as the ship rocked as it raised off the ground. Whoever was outside was still firing and if they got a lucky shot on the engine, they were as good as dead.

“Get the shields up or they’ll blow us to pieces!” Rey commanded, tracing Ben’s steps to the cockpit.

She really hoped the ship even _had_ shields. Some ill-advised pilots had done away with those systems in the name of more cargo space or a lighter ride. More often than not, those ships would be shot down and debris scattered along the Jakku desert, ripe for scavenging.

“Activating shields in three, two, one,” Ben muttered, half to himself.

The entire ship shivered as the shields went online; the blasterfire from the men below pinged uselessly off of it.

She could imagine the howls of anger and discontent as their quarry disappeared into the sky.

Ben and Lando had likely killed a few of the attackers and Rey knew that it would not be safe for either of them to return. The people would demand payment in blood, a life for a life. There was no law in Niima Outpost aside from that.

Niima Outpost got further and further away, until it was a fuzzy spot in the sand, until it finally disappeared.

The ship breached Jakku’s atmosphere and coasted along like a satellite, never getting too far from its gravitational pull. Unless their attackers decided to hop in ships to chase them down, they were safe.

“You in one piece?” Lando asked, turning around in his seat.

He sounded genuinely concerned. Having one person being concerned for her wellbeing was rare, two at once, impossible. Probably because he put so much effort into making sure she didn’t die due to her initial injury. What a waste of time and medicine if she had died the moment she stepped off the ship.

Rey nodded. The excitement from the battle still shot through her veins, but she knew she was unharmed.

“Wasn’t expecting that, honestly,” she said in an attempt at levity.

Firefights were few and far between, especially at Niima Outpost. There were settlements far from there that dealt heavily in arms dealing. Those places, well, there would be an incident where some buyer or seller got upset. Rey only heard of these things or seen the aftermath if something happened at the Outpost while she was out scavenging. To participate in a firefight, that was something she definitely wasn’t expecting. The blaster still dangled in her hand, like an afterthought.

“You’re pretty good with that thing.”

She glanced down at it, mouth twisting. It was the truth, she supposed, though the thought brought a sense of unease. It wasn’t the first time she had potentially killed someone, but it was always at close-range: a dagger strike or a well-placed blow with her staff. Blasters were so…impersonal, cold. Rey held it out to Lando, to return it.

He lifted his hand, palm facing her. “Nah, keep it.”

First rations, then a blaster? What was this man playing at?

“Are you sure?” she asked, slowly moving to tuck it into her belt. He was going to change his mind, surely.

“Yup.”

Her mind immediately went how much she could get for it. Definitely more than six portions, even ten if she wheedled enough and if Plutt was in a good mood.

The ship hummed peacefully. Most of the ship Rey had been in were dead, hollowed-out husks. To fly on a functional ship was a treat she knew she would remember, regardless of what would happen next.

“Well, what are we gonna do now?” Lando mused.

Rey blinked, unsure of what he meant. It was a simple task of him turning back around to Jakku’s surface and dropping her off nearby her hovel.

When she said as such, Ben immediately shook his head.

“I didn’t see the Trandoshan go down, so he must be still alive,” Ben muttered. His voice was tight, like he was angry with himself. Maybe he was, his pride hurt because he couldn’t take down all of the attackers before they were forced to retreat.

“And he definitely saw you and knows who you are,” he continued, his words a bit louder than before.

Lando sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve made enemies.”

She didn't make enemies. Nothing was ever personal. You fought to survive and hurt and kill if you had to, but there were never enemies, only rivals.

“Thanks for that,” Rey snapped. As if she didn't have enough to deal with.

Lando continued as if she hadn’t said anything “So, you should wait a while before going back.”

Rey’s mouth flapped open in shock. “What do you mean? What else am I supposed to do?”

If she was taken to another outpost in Jakku, she didn’t know how she would expect to survive. She wouldn’t have reliable shelter or any connections to vendors or a definite source of food. To return to any part of Jakku that wasn’t Niima Outpost would be certain death.

“We could always take you with us,” Lando suggested. “Hell, I’ll pay you for the next couple jobs. Force knows I’ve been using poor Ben here like a pack-bantha.”

Ben looked like he was going to protest, but Lando shot him a look. Rey’s jaw clenched, a tremor running through her body before she could steel herself again.

If Lando noticed her reaction, he didn’t indicate it. Instead, he reached out and patted her shoulder. “I’ve got a feeling about you, Rey. What’s the harm?”

The thought of her parents returning and finding her gone crossed her mind, like a fist around her heart.

Then, she thought about the hundreds of tic marks carved into the walls of her AT-AT and…well, a handful of days wouldn’t hurt, right? They would wait for her, as she waited for them.

It would be a little break from Jakku, a chance to fulfill her debt to the men who saved her life.

“I should be getting home,” she muttered, still hesitating.

“For now, home means death,” Ben returned, his cool pragmatism contradictory to his apparent distaste of the idea of her sticking around at all.

“You’re smugglers,” she said slowly.

“Yes.”

“What do you deal in?”

Lando grinned, clearly glad that she was questioning before saying yes to anything. “Weapons. Spice. Ship parts and fuel. But, mostly weapons.”

“No people?”

Lando shook his head, lip curling in disgust. “No. We don't deal in people.”

Rey thought about how it was likely their products, especially spice, dealt with forced labor anyway, though they might not have been smuggling people for that labor themselves. She kept that opinion to herself.

Dealing with things and only things, she could do just fine. She could haul, she could haggle. But, if there had been people in the cargo hold, she would have already been insisting to be dropped off at Jakku, money be dammed.

“Fine,” she said, before she could reconsider. “But only for a few jobs. Then, you take me back to Jakku.”

Lando’s face broke into a grin while Ben sighed, looking resigned. Rey focused on the happier man, shelving whatever likely confrontations she would be having with the other man later.

“Well, welcome aboard the _Vagabond_.”

Lando clapped a hand on Ben’s shoulder.

“Keep ‘er in orbit while we figure out where to go next. Pity that the sale fell through.”

Lando eased himself out of the pilot seat and out of the cockpit. Rey trailed behind him, both to find out what he wanted her to do and also so she wasn’t just alone with Ben in that small space.

Rey took off the pack that was slung over her shoulders and set it on the ground.

“Eh, just put the supplies back in their proper place. Meds go there. Food goes in the mess, down the hall to your left.” Lando pointed at the places as he spoke.

She retraced her steps back to where she had woken up on the ship. Sure enough, there were crates full of medical supplies. Apparently, this was the teeny med-bay inside the ship. One crate contained a bunch of wrapped up devices with labels that she couldn’t decipher. She was pretty sure some of the pieces and drugs weren’t legal in any Core System.

Rey hummed as she put the patches and antibiotics into their appropriate crates. Everything was painstakingly organized and labeled in elegant script.

The tiny mess was a little harder to find, but it was clear once she found it. The several-gallon jug of water and the boxes clearly labeled ‘food’ tipped her off.

She plucked one of the ration bars out and tucked it into her belt. The rest went into their appropriate container on the counter. Apparently, Ben had put all but three into her little sack.

The thought warmed her a bit more than it should have.

She straightened out the rest of the food stacks. It seemed like the two men relied on ration packs and other freeze-dried foods while they were travelling the galaxy.

Rey couldn’t complain, a ration pack was a whole meal compared to the portions Plutt gave out.

The array of food was tempting and her body screamed for all of it. She knew better. Years ago, a supply ship had dropped its cargo in the middle of the desert, the ship itself likely meeting a fiery end in the sand pits.

Rey had gotten to it after several other scavengers had ransacked the crates for the most valuable pieces of scrap and weapons. There had been a crate of rations that split open, scattering some packets into the sand. She had known she wouldn’t be able to come back for seconds, the rest of the wreckage to be destroyed by sandstorm or beasts or taken by other scavengers, so she carried as many ration packs as she could to her speeder, even scrounging through the hot sand for extras, and left.

Rey had gorged herself on packets of food that evening, barely tasting most of it, only to regret it hours later when she became violently ill.

Starvation killed, but so did stuffing oneself uncontrollably after a long famine.

Rey delicately plucked one of the packages labelled ‘mixed berries’, tore it open, and poured the freeze-dried berries into her waiting mouth.

She made it through half of a ration bar before she found the discipline to stop before she made herself sick. The rest she wrapped up and tucked in her belt, along with the other whole one.

“You seem to be able to work on your feet,” Lando observed as she stepped out of the mess.

“Kinda required, where I live.” She winced at how nasty that came out, but exhaustion swept over her, bringing irritation with it, unable to really tolerate any inane comments. She almost wished for the solitude of her AT-AT on Jakku. Almost.

Lando either didn’t care or didn’t notice her attitude, sighing, “Well, we need to refuel. Then, our next job will take us to Sullust.”

Rey searched her memory for references to Sullust and came up empty. People talked about other planets, but sometimes not referring to them by their standard name but by colloquial names.

At her confused expression, Lando waved a hand dismissively. “Eh, imagine a bunch of underground cave-cities. Lots of artificial light. It creeps Ben out, though he wouldn’t admit it.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t!” Ben called from the room.

Rey couldn’t help but smile a little. Now, that, Lando definitely noticed.

“I’ll give you a datapad with more info on the place, if you want. Just so you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into.”

She nodded. She was half-expecting a snide questioning on her ability to read, but none came. Outsiders often treated the scavengers on Jakku like illiterate beasts, cannibalistic and clinging to foolish superstitions.

These two were…different. That much was clear.

Ben led her back to where she had woken up many hours earlier.

“Your quarters are here, since you’ve already used this bed. We’ll kick you out of it if someone is injured,” he said, hardly a care in the world.

“Hopefully that doesn’t happen.”

Ben puffed up a little in pride. “We’re good at what we do, so it won’t be much of an issue.”

Rey must have looked like she was going to make a comment about bold last words because Ben barreled on. “There’s a ‘fresher and sonic on the aft side of the ship, if you need to clean or change or whatever.”

The tips of his ears were looking a little pink and Rey couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts were bouncing around his head.

“Thank you, Ben,” she said softly.

He cleared his throat, ears still pink. “No problem. Since we work together now.” Ben stopped, cleared his throat again. “It’ll be good having another set of eyes. Lando’s been at this for a long time, gets stuck in his ways. I guess I’m like that too.”

“Adding a scavenger to the smugglers?”

He shrugged. “Something like that. And I’m sure you’ll like having some credits in your pocket. Does Jakku have an equivalent to Mos Eisley?”

“Mos-what?” Rey asked.

“City on Tatooine. Shitty place, if you ask me,” Ben huffed. “But it’s way better than that junkyard on Jakku. It has actual buildings”

Rey pursed her lips, deciding not to dignify the dig at her reluctant home with a response, and shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least, whenever people talked about other places on Jakku, they always seemed to be the same as Niima Outpost.”

“Makes no sense to travel all the way out to a new place if it’s just the same as the old,” Ben mused.

“Right. Also, my family is going to return to Niima Outpost.”

They didn’t talk much after that. Ben helped her change the bacta patch on her face, letting her do the most of the work, touching her as little as possible.

She almost fell into him when Lando made the jump into hyperspace. The force of it pulled at her, making her feel woozy.

“Don’t like flying?” Ben asked, fiddling with the box of medical supplies.

“Just not used to it.”

She thanked him for his help, grateful that the sting on her face was lesser than before and more like a dull pain like a bruise. He grunted in reply before wandering to what Rey assumed was his quarters.

…

The refresher, she found, was meticulously clean, just like the rest of the ship. The sonic took up most of the space, a sink and set of drawers taking up what was left.

Rey stripped, leaving her clothes in a pile on the ground, and took her hair out of its three buns, before getting into the sonic. She shivered a little as her skin was stripped of dirt and grime, a sensation she wasn’t used to. She had to keep one hand over the bacta patch—she really should have replaced it _after_ using the ‘fresher—to keep it from flying off.

Stepping out, she dug through a drawer with hopeful, searching hands to find a small white bar of soap.

She took it in her hands and smelled it. There was a faint fragrance—flowers, maybe—that drifted off, fresh. Rey had gotten her hands on soap before, but it hadn’t had a smell to it. Regardless, the bar less than half the size of her palm cost two-days’ worth of work and she used flakes of it at a time.

She ran the soap under a few drops of water to make a lather. Using any more than a few drops felt like sacrilege.

She scrubbed the bubbles on her arms, neck, and face, rinsing with a little more water on a rag.

For the first time, the concept of actual water showers wasn’t a far-off fantasy. Of course, she would have to wait for the opportunity to arise at wherever Lando took her. But, she could imagine the indescribable cleanliness she felt on her arms and head, only covering her entire body.

The sonic was good, but she knew that water showers were something much better, something divine, heavenly.

Her clothes now felt like an unclean aberration, now that she had washed.

She looked at the puddle of clothes on the ground, and then to the soap and water.

Surely, the run-off would be purified and recycled, right?

She picked up her bindings, wet it in the water with some soap, and scrubbed with a rag. She shivered, still standing naked and slightly damp.

Space was cold. Everyone who had been outside of Jakku had attested to that.

One piece at a time, she cleaned her clothes, wrung out as much water as she could, and put them on. The wet cloth stuck to her skin, chilling her. At least, she didn’t feel like she was defeating the purpose of showering by putting her dirty clothes back on. She redid her hair, this time with one bun and leaving the rest of her hair loose.

The ship was quiet when she left the refresher, save for the duel hums of the hyperdrive and the engine.

She retraced her steps back to her ‘quarters’, lying down on the bed.

Lando had said it would take them several hours to reach wherever it was they were going to refuel at.

He omitted the system name when he told her the plan, for good reason. Though Lando and Ben had been all too generous to her, she couldn’t be trusted fully yet. She supposed if she had the ill will and the connections, she could have had a rival smuggler gang intercept them.

She owed a life-debt.

A shiver ran though her body. Space was cold. Everyone said that, but it was different to actually experience it. She tucked the blanket over her body and shut her eyes.

…

A roaring sound filled her ears, echoing loud in her head, like she was the hollowed-out hull of a felled Star Destroyer.

Roar, then a boom.

The entire planet was moving, but not like during a sandstorm. This was different, far away from anything she had experienced before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeere we are!  
> Any and all feedback is appreciated! Really! Please!  
> Cheers!

**Author's Note:**

> -dances-  
> Time to embark on a second Reylo-related adventure!  
> Please, comment and stuff! It really is a good motivator!  
> Cheers!


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